


Cowinkydink

by mysteryninja98



Series: In Another World [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Pietro and Wanda are his kids, Religion, Steve's a really great dad, romanogers - Freeform, steve's a dad
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-13
Updated: 2017-12-19
Packaged: 2019-02-14 10:47:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,316
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13006158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mysteryninja98/pseuds/mysteryninja98
Summary: He wasn't gonna lie, the redheaded beauty took his breath away when she introduced herself as his son's gymnastics teacher. And she really threw him for a loop when he walked into his daughter's karate lesson only to have her piercing green eyes staring right through him. Coincidence? Yeah, probably. Good coincidence? Oh, most definitely.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Let's try this again.

“Pietro, stop picking your nose. No- what are you doin- don’t give it to Wanda! Wanda put it in this tissue- no I said the tissue, not on the front of your shirt!”

Being a single parent wasn’t easy. Not by a long shot. It meant you couldn’t just tell your kids to “go ask your mother” when they gave you moon eyes in the ice cream aisle. It meant you couldn’t just take one of them to the park without taking the other, who was screaming because they wanted to go to the pool instead. It meant knowing you were going to have to tackle both sides of the ‘the talk’ one day, which was something you’d never be fully prepared for no matter how many chapters of _How to Tell Your Child About the Birds and the Bees_ you read from the book that you got on sale.

But no one could ever say it wasn’t entertaining at times.

The urge to pinch the bridge of his nose and sigh was strong, and had he not been driving, Steve would have given into it. The twins really did share everything, even boogers, apparently.

“Pietro it’s yucky to pick your nose, and it’ll give you nosebleeds. And Wanda, for goodness sakes, don’t take your brother’s boogers when he offers them.”

“Sorry Daddy,” Pietro giggled, his bright smile betraying his lack of remorse.

“I thought you said it was nice to share though,” his twin said from her car seat, big brown eyes wide and curious.

“Daddy’s not saying it isn’t nice to share, he’s just saying that boogers belong in your nose or a tissue, not your fingers.”

“So you can pick your nose when you have a tissue on your finger?”

“Er, yeah, I guess. But it’s better to blow your nose, not pick it.”

“Why?”

It was three o’clock in the afternoon, and having a conversation about nose-picking with his five year old daughter hadn’t been something Steve had prepared for when he woke up that morning.

“Because it’s cleaner,” he said, stretching his neck to see if – yes, the parking space was open.

“But can’t you just wash your hands?”

“You’d have to wash your hands several times a day if you wanted to pick your nose,” Steve pointed out as he turned the key and opened his door. He went around to the other side and unbuckled Pietro from his booster seat, making sure to keep ahold of his hand. The little boy was notorious for running off and getting into trouble before Steve could catch him.

“I’ll be right back Wanda, okay? I’ll drop Piet off and then we’ll go to the store.”

“Ok Daddy.”

He shut the door and started walking towards the community center’s door. If Steve had any other career other than the one he had now, it would be impossible to take two hours every Tuesday and Thursday in the middle of the day off to take his kids to the center. Yet here he was, trying to wrangle a three foot tall pillar of pure excited energy to his very first gymnastics lesson.

He wanted the twins to be able to do things they liked without each other, which was why he had to lock one out of the room when asking the other what they wanted to do. If they had their way, it’d be them and Steve living in the same room for the rest of their lives. And while the sentiment was nice and all, Steve was a bit apprehensive that they wouldn’t fit in and make friends when they went to first grade in a month. It had been different in preschool and kindergarten, where the class was always together doing everything and they could be together and be with other kids at the same time.

So he was quite relieved when they chose different activities, even if Wanda’s karate lesson didn’t start until Pietro’s gymnastics had finished. It even gave him a bit of one on one time with each child, and that didn’t happen all too often.

The community center in Brooklyn was always bustling with people, but it didn’t seem to be too busy when he walked up to the center desk, whose queuing line wasn’t even that long.

“Hi, I’m here for the gymnastics lessons, do you think you could point me in the way of the gymnasium?”

The receptionist gave him a bright smile and directed him down a hallway to his right. Sure enough, the door at the end of the hallway opened up into a giant gymnasium complete with that weird semi-squishy flooring, three foam pits, open mats and rows of other equipment. Steve raised his eyebrows in surprise at the grandeur of it all.

“They use it for high school competitions and I’m pretty sure we’ve even had a few professionals use it passing through.”

The mellow voice came from his left, and when Steve looked over, he noticed a group of people he hadn’t before. Strutting up to him was a beautiful red-headed woman in leggings and a dry-fit tee.

Steve felt his mouth go dry and he swallowed before she stopped in front of him, a slight smirk on her face.

“You seemed surprised that it was so nice,” she said, that slight smirk growing into a full one, making him suspect that she had heard him gulp.

“I-um-I didn’t mean to, I’ve never actually been here before,” he admitted. “It’s Pietro’s first lesson,” he said, smiling down at his son to avoid flushing.

“Pietro, huh? How’d you come about that name?”

Her question was curious, but despite the innocent nature of it, Steve still felt the cold fist of loss and sadness close around his heart.

“My wife, she, er, she travelled a lot. Was stationed in Sokovia for a time, and made friends with a man and his sister, Wanda, who this one’s twin is named after.” He tried to keep his voice light and unassuming, and it must have worked, because the woman smiled.

“My family’s originally from Russia, the name sounded familiar,” she said before putting out her hand to shake. “Well, I’m Natasha Romanov, the gymnastics instructor here,” Steve took her hand and noticed how dwarfed it was resting in his, “I’ll be teaching your little man how to tumble and roll and be awesome, isn’t that right kid?”

Pietro smiled a toothy grin up at her and responded with an enthusiastic, “Yeah!”

“Alrighty then, sounds like I’m leaving him in pretty capable hands. I’ll be back in an hour. Normally I’d stay, but I’ve got a couple of errands to run and his sister is still in the car.”

Natasha laughed, and Steve couldn’t help but be attracted to the sound.

“Well then we’ll see you in an hour,” she said, leading Pietro towards the group. Steve’s thoughts lingered on her hand in his until he got to the car to find Wanda’s booster seat empty. His heartrate spiked and his chest tightened until he saw her waving at him from the driver’s seat, big smile on her face as she acted out turning the steering wheel. Even then, he had to take a couple of deep breaths to calm the jackrabbit that was his heart and regain the bit of lost composure.

Steve opened his door with a slight smile on his face, hands trembling in the slightest of ways.

“Whatcha doing there, Lightning McQueen?”

“I’m you, Daddy!” she giggled, making make his heart melt. With her dad and her brother wrapped around her finger, the girl was bound to have a hard time finding a boyfriend when she was older, that was for sure.

“Okay, speedy, time to get back into your booster.”

When all was righted, they made their way to the store, going in to pick up cereal and bread and whatever else they needed. And like every time they went, Wanda managed to dupe two or three slices of cheese out of the deli workers with her big eyes and missing-tooth smile.

By the time they got back into the car, they were running slightly ahead of schedule, which was a nice change. Usually he’d still be wrangling Wanda into her seat, but since there was no twin bother trying to steal her cheese, she didn’t struggle much at all.

“We don’t want to be late for your first lesson, do we?” he had said when her lip turned into the telltale pout of defiance. Why kids hated the booster seats, he would never know.

“No! I wanna learn how to beat all the boys up.”

That drew a laugh out of Steve as he buckled himself in and pulled out of the parking space. “That’s my girl.”

“But can I tell you a secret, Daddy?” Steve raised an eyebrow and looked in the rearview mirror to see Wanda’s expression serious but with a hint of mischief.

“And what’s that, babygirl?”

“I would never beat up Peter, because I like him.”

Steve choked out a laugh. Peter Parker was the next door neighbor’s little boy, who was a year older than the twins but was still their best friend.

“And why do you like Peter?”

“He called me pretty,” she said with a smug smile. “And I told him he was pretty too but he said boys aren’t pretty, they’re handsome,” she said with a shrug. “So I told him that was stupid and that boys could be pretty too because I call you and Pietro pretty. But now Pietro doesn’t like it when I call him pretty. But that’s also stupid because we’re twins and that means that if I’m pretty then he’s also pretty because we’re the same.”

“It doesn’t have to mean you’re the same,” Steve said.

“But it does,” Wanda shot back, her mouth defensively turning into a slight frown.

“Ok, whatever you say, Princess,” he said passively, not wanting to argue with her on the topic at that moment, especially since they were nearing the center again.

When they got inside, Steve decided to drop Wanda off before picking up Pietro, since he still had a couple of minutes left.

Entering the room where the lesson was being held, he was greeted with a familiar face which made Wanda beam and run to be swept up by the man’s strong arms.

“Sam! How are you? I was hoping to catch you before we left today,” Steve said, clasping the hand that wasn’t full of Wanda in a firm handshake.

“Well, you do have a cell phone you could’ve, I dunno, texted me with. Or called me. But whatever,” Sam grinned, teasing Steve about his lack of tech knowledge. (Tech-knowledge-gy)

Steve shot him a withering look before Sam’s attention shifted to the brown eyes peering up at him in his arms.

“Little miss Wanda, you’ve grown since I last saw you,” he said, playfully accusing her while poking the little girl’s tummy softly, making her giggle.

“Daddy says he thinks I’m taller than Pietro now, but don’t tell Pietro, he gets jealous,” she said seriously.

Sam let out a laugh. “Where is the little whirlwind anyways?”

“I gotta go pick him up from his lesson. Are you teaching this class?”

“Nah. I just got off from a therapy shift and they asked if I could supervise until the instructor got here.”

“Ok, well, I’ll see you later. You’ll have to come by with Maria sometime for dinner,” Steve said with a smile.

“She’s like that. She says you don’t coddle her because she’s pregnant like everyone else does, and that your garlic bread satisfies her carb craving.”

“Must be left over from when Pegs was pregnant. She’d have kicked my butt to when the twins were 16 if I dared coddle her, even at nine months. And I’ll be sure to make a couple extra loaves to send home next time. I gotta run now, Piet’s bound to be done any second now.”

“See you later, man,” Sam said, shifting Wanda and giving him a little wave.

The second he set foot in the gymnastics room a head of silvery blond hair skyrocketed into his arms, nearly vibrating with happiness.

“Daddy, Daddy, guess what I did today,” Pietro said, pride evident in his voice.

“What did you do?” Steve said, trying to match the excitement in his son’s voice.

“Miss Tasha taught us how to do cartwheels and rolls and she said that, she said mine was the best in the class,” he boasted. “And then she let us jump off the board into the Pit of Doom and that was fun. And at the very end, we played sharkies and minnows, and I was always the first one to the other side,” he said radiantly. Then his face dropped. “Well, I was the first until Miss Tasha caught me. But that’s okay. I caught her the next time.”

Pietro’s excitement was contagious and Steve couldn’t help but to smile and kiss his forehead.

“Pit of Doom, huh? I’m so proud of you, buddy. Sounds like you had a lot of fun today. Were you good for Miss Natasha?”

He nodded his head in confirmation.

“Were you nice to the other kids?”

Another head nod.

“Even when you won?”

It was slower this time around, but the nod still came.

“That’s my boy. We’ve always gotta make sure we don’t show off just to make other kids feel bad and us better.”

“I know Daddy. I didn’t even say ‘I won’ when I was first in Sharkies and Minnows, even when Carolina did when I was a sharky and couldn’t win.”

“So you wanna come and do it again on Thursday?”

“Can we do it tomorrow?”

“’Fraid not bud. But we can do something else tomorrow.”

“Mkay. Where’s Wanda?”

“She’s in her karate class that just started. We’re gonna go watch her.” Pietro’s eyes lit up.

“Karate?”

“Yes. Which is something you aren’t doing unless you want to quit gymnastics.” The light dimmed in his eyes a bit and he puckered his lips in a pout before lighting up again.

“But we can watch Wanda do it, and then Wanda will teach me.”

“I bet she’ll try, bud, I bet she’ll try.”

Steve took a stutter step when he walked into the room only to be greeted with the same flaming hair and intelligent eyes of Pietro’s instructor, except she had on the karate attire now.

“Well isn’t this a cowinkydink,” Natasha said with a wink and a cheeky smile. “So, Mr. Mom, I take it that yours is the magnificent Wanda that Pietro is so fond of?” she said, motioning to the other side of the room where all the students were hanging out by their parents except for a certain chestnut haired girl, who was making Sam chase her around the open space before giggling manically and diving through his legs.

Steve laughed out loud and shook his head as Pietro wigged out of his arms to go join his sister.

“That’s my kid,” he said still chuckling. “Did Piet really talk about her that much?”

Natasha grinned softly. “Every time he did something, he would tell me that Wanda can do this and Wanda can do that. It was sweet. They seem pretty close.”

“Yeah. Well, they’re twins, and they’ve got no other sibling to keep ‘em company, so…”

“I know the feeling, I only had an older brother growing up, and we’re pretty close too. Aaaand that’s the last of them,” she said, looking over his shoulder at the little boy walking in with his mom, “better get this show on the road.”

“Of course,” Steve said, getting Pietro’s attention and calling him over. Sam got to him first however, and picked him up by his feet to carry him over to Steve.

Pietro was flushed and giggling from rolling around on the floor when he clambered over into Steve’s lap to sit.

They spent the next hour watching Natasha lead the class in a series of exercises before showing them a couple of basic moves. Of course there was a smattering of bathroom breaks on behalf of Pietro, who had demolished nearly a whole water bottle fifteen minutes in.

The rest of the time was spent conversing with Sam and watching Pietro pay rapt attention to the lesson as if it were his own.

By the time the hour had passed and the class was doing cool down stretches, Pietro’s head had dropped to watch from Steve’s broad chest, and Steve wondered if he’d be able to get dinner in them before they passed out.

He stopped his wondering when Wanda ran up to him and asked if they could stay for a few extra minutes to play with Sam some more, which made Pietro perk right up.

“I don’t know guys, we might have to do that a different time. I can already tell bath time is going to be a sleepy affair.”

They made sounds of grumbled excuses, but Steve knew that Pietro’s lack of energy and Wanda’s dragging feet gave them away.

“Sam, give me a call soon and we’ll go to the gym. I know you’ve been dying to finally beat my time around the track,” Steve said with a cheeky grin, “But if that doesn’t happen maybe you can get past my bench max.”

Sam rolled his eyes and grumbled what sounded like, “Superhuman, I swear,” under his breath.

“Kiddos, why don’t you say bye to Miss Natasha.”

The twins both gave her wide smiles and enthusiastic waves.

“Bye Miss Tasha! Daddy says we can’t come back tomorrow but we’ll be back on Thursday,” Pietro said before tacking on, “I think,” as an afterthought.

“Sounds about right. I’ll see you all Thursday,” Natasha said with a smile before moving past Steve to grab a stray water bottle. “You staying on Thursday too?”

“Yeah, I should be able to stay for both their lessons,” he said, scooping up both of the small children in his arms, who clung to him like monkeys.

“I’ll catch you later, then,” she said with a smile and a wink before strutting out the door. From what he’d seen of her, she always walked with a purpose, powerfully and in charge. It was a breath of fresh air for Steve to see a woman not trying to sashay her hips to entice men around her, Natasha had that quality without having to use her body. Not that Steve hadn’t noticed that too, but that was beside the point and a forbidden train of thought that he wasn’t looking to board.

“Like what you see?” Sam said with a sly grin, clapping him on the shoulder.

Steve flushed, “What? No, you know that I would never- I wouldn’t-“

“Relax buddy,” Sam laughed, “I’m just joshing you. Besides, not in a million years would a smart woman like Natasha fall for an old man like you.”

“Old man? I’m 32!” Steve said indignantly, “That’s hardly old, only a few years your senior, young man. Besides,” he said with a smirk, “if I’m so old why am I still beating you, someone who is obviously so _young_ and _fit_ and obvious in the prime of his life?”

Sam regarded him with a wrinkled nose. “You know, if you didn’t have those two as little shields, I’d punch you.”

Steve clutched his children closer. “Speaking of the little shields, I think it’s time to head home, get some dinner and stumble through bath time and bed time.”

“Drive safe then. Give us a call and we’ll have that dinner.”

“Will do. I’ll see you later,” Steve grunted, bending down to get the twins’ bags off the floor.

Steve was right, though, in the end. Pietro almost fell asleep in his spaghetti and Wanda made such a fuss in the tub because she was tired that Steve almost gave up.

But finally he got them both in bed – clean, fed, and tired – and closed the door to a blessed silence that he loved and hated at the same time.

With the silence came his mind, and to his surprise, memories from the past of Bucky and Peggy and him weren’t at the forefront. It was the image of sharp green eyes, the sound of a smooth, full voice, and the feel of a small hand in his.

Well this was new.


	2. Chapter 2

“I swear, Darcy, he could do a calendar in a monk’s robes and it would still be a bestseller,” Natasha sighed, sipping her orange creamsicle shake. Her best friend grinned on the computer screen.

“Sounds like this guy has really got you all hot and bothered. It’s been awhile since you’ve fangirled about someone this hard.”

“I am _not_ fangirling. I’m appreciating a beauty that the world has bestowed upon me.”

Natasha Romanov prided herself on having few weaknesses. One of them was in the form of a creamy dreamy orange creamsicle shake and another was skype nights with her best friend to talk about guys and work and problems and tell stories. Although, she was usually on the other side of the guy problems, seeing as Darcy had a penchant for showing very little control when a guy cast an eye in her direction. But not in a slutty way. She just seemed to have a lot of guy issues compared to Natasha, whose standards were way past nearly unattainable. Because of that, not many men caught her eye, but when one did, it was a big deal.

“Honestly, if you’d seen this guy, you’d understand. I was about to ask him how it felt to be Adonis when he walked in, but then he opened his mouth and was all flustered and adorable and that’s pretty much the only flaw he has, if getting embarrassed can even be considered a flaw. It should be illegal for a guy to be panty-dropping hot and adorably cute at the same time. Not to mention that he has two of the cutest kids in the history of kids. Also not to mention how much they love him and how great of a dad he seems to be. And how sweet and sincere he was,” she added, thinking that maybe her mind was really building this guy up. “Darcy, I kid you not, his eyes never strayed from my face when talking to me, and even when I walked out of the room and he was staring at me, I didn’t get that creepy leering feeling I do whenever some guy is undressing me in his mind.

“Get you some, then. It’s been a while since a guy has caught your eye Nat. I don’t think it was a coincidence that both of his kids are in classes that you teach.”

“But he’s _married_ , Darce,” she pointed out.

“It’s always the married ones. Tell me, is that Sam guy still happy with his marriage?”

“Yes, Darcy. And I remember him mentioning that his wife is due, like next month. Speaking of, Sam is friends with-“ Natasha paused, wracking her brain for Tall Blonde and Perfect’s name, “-oh my gosh. I don’t even know his first name.” Natasha sat up at the realization. “I taught his twins for two flipping hours and I don’t even know him by anything but ‘daddy’ and ‘Mr. Rogers’.”

Darcy snickered over the camera. “You know him by ‘daddy’, huh?”

Natasha laughed when she realized what she said. “I guess that didn’t come out how I wanted it to. That’s all his kids call him.’

“Oh no, I’m sure if you went in tomorrow and called him daddy you’d get that cute embarrassment you like so much.”

“His kids don’t have lessons tomorrow. They’re only there on Tuesdays and Thursdays,” she sighed.

“So you’re completely sure that this guy is married? To a woman?”

“He’s not gay, he mentioned his wife. And I’m pretty sure that was a pretty solid way of telling me to back off with my leering. Although I will say that he seemed very appreciative of the way I looked.”

“What exactly did he say?”

“I asked him about his son’s name, because it sounded almost Russian, and he said that his wife travelled a lot and was stationed in Sokovia for a while. I kinda figure she’s in the army, or in another branch.”

Darcy frowned. “Well that sucks. From what you’ve told me, he’s not the cheating type, even if he noticed you’re a bombshell. Married guys aren’t blind after all.”

“Even if he was it’s not like I’m a homewrecker. Besides, I wouldn’t be interested if he was the cheating type. I tried that, remember? The cheater types don’t stop cheating for you.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Darcy responded, taking a swig out of the beer she had been nursing from the start.

Natasha groaned, dropping her head and methodically indenting her fingernails into the soft Styrofoam of the cup. “I don’t even know why I should be liking him this much. We had a total of like, two conversations. I think I’ve been single for too long, and this is just my subconscious’ way of telling me I might need to reboot my match.com account.”

Darcy let out an indignant noise. “No. I’m vetoing that idea right now. Dating sites are for, like, people 35 and older who made a pact with their childhood best friend to get married if they weren’t by 30 and spent years moping about before realizing they were too old to go find a date in the real world. And you are not that person. You are a freaking 27 year old whose good years are still to come. So don’t give me that dating site crapola again. I let you try it once and look how that went.”

“Okay, first of all, I’m only 27 for like, another week and a half. Second, lots of young people use dating sites. I think your perception of them is seriously misconstrued because of the awful luck I had my first go at them.”

“Awful luck,” Darcy scoffed, “Awful luck is when you step in dog crap with your best shoes on the way home from a breakup. What you had, oh dearest Natasha, was a disaster. A couple of them, if I remember correctly.”

“Thanks. This is exactly the kind of pick-me-up call I wanted tonight,” Natasha commented dryly, putting her shake on the table next her before flopping back down.

“You know that wasn’t why I said that. I just don’t want you to go back and make the same mistakes again. I mean, if it’s not broken don’t fix it, but if it’s already broken, why bother?”

“That’s an awful way of looking at things,” Natasha pointed out.

“No ever said my tongue was silver. What I was trying to say was that you’ve had two conversations with the guy. You’re the one telling me to get to know a guy before passing any judgments.”

“Okay, but that is so that you don’t get your heart buried six feet under every time you go to a bar.”

“Well getting heartbroken because you tried is better than getting heartbroken over something that you never gave a chance to be. Natasha, this could be the big ‘what if’ moment in your life. And if he’s going to be coming in two times a week, acting like this weirdly perfect super-human sounding deity that you’ve described him as without actually getting to know his story, then you’re gonna wade in too deep into waters you refuse to look at.”

“Stop sounding like me and giving good advice. I’ve decided I don’t like being on this end of the rope.” Darcy gave one of her satisfied smiles before draining the rest of her drink.

“I quite like it. Maybe I’ll raise my standards to be as high as yours and be here more often.”

“We’d be at a stalemate, then, because my principles aren’t budging just because you want to be in a power position.”

“Hm. I guess you’re right,” Darcy replied, scrunching up her nose slightly before shrugging. “Well, it seems I’ve resigned myself to a life of graduated frat boys and club dwellers.”

“It doesn’t have to be like that, you know.”

Darcy gave her a roguish smile. “I know.”

Natasha let a small grin grace her face. “I have to get going now. Are we meeting for lunch this weekend?”

“Yep, just like all the others.”

“See you then.”

The screen went dark, and for a moment, Natasha was enveloped by silence.

She liked it, she really did. The silence was a welcome that she would never get tired of. But sometimes it was lonely.

She got up and turned off the lights, meandering down the hall to go through her nightly routine and flop down into bed.

He was too good to be true, Mr. Perfect. There was no way that someone could be that nice and good looking and sweet. Impossible. He must have a criminal record or something.

Natasha shook her head. She didn’t need this. She didn’t need the uncertainty, she didn’t need the crushing, she didn’t need any of it.

What she needed was a good night’s sleep and a tough day at work tomorrow.

Trying to shake the thought of the man from her mind, she turned over in bed.

It would be better this way.

…….

It was Thursday before she knew it, and she was disappointed in herself when she woke up and caught that stupid warm feeling spreading through her chest at the thought of her gymnastics and karate classes because she knew it wasn’t the thought of teaching the kids that caused it.

And her disappointment stayed as she went through the day distracted, mind wandering to that big hand in hers, those blue eyes, that loving smile he had when he looked at his kids. Wandering so much that Sam picked up on it at lunch.

“Did your brain go out to lunch without you?”

His voice cracked through her imagination, interrupting the part where Blue Eyes came in with flowers and that blush, asking her to come to his apartment for dinner.

She blinked a few times. “Seems like it, Wilson. Guess you’d know the feeling pretty well, huh?”

He grinned. “Oh yeah. Although, I can’t remember the last time my brain went somewhere that made my eyes go all clouded and dreamy and smile like an idiot. I’m married to my crush, my brain doesn’t have to take me there,” he said, grin growing wider and eyebrows waggling. “So who’s the guy, Nat, huh?”

Natasha laughed, trying to hide the blush creeping up her neck. “I’m sorry, were we transported back to the lunch table in 5th grade, gossiping about our crushes? If there was a guy, which I’m not saying if there is or isn’t, then it would be none of your business. My brain knows what’s good for me.”

“I mean, I just wanted to know because I have a friend who might be interested. But if there’s a guy…” he trailed off, shoulders shrugging noncommittedly but eyes knowing he had he hooked.

She tried to remain nonchalant, but her interest was piqued and her eyebrows were raised. “Like I said, Wilson, not saying there is.”

He chuckled. “I dunno Nat, I mean I don’t want to get his hopes up, he’d be pretty crestfallen if I told him his sorry self had a chance only to find that you already had a guy.”

“Fine,” Natasha conceded, rolling her eyes, “there is no guy in my life at the moment.”

“Well then who was making you go sprinting into La La Land?”

“No one. I was thinking about a nice hot shower when I got home after four different kids have sneezed in my face today.”

“Mmmhhh. Sure you were.” Sam’s watch beeped erratically. “Well, looks like time’s up. I gotta go,” he said, fully aware that he hadn’t told her who his friend was.

“Wait, so who’s the friend? Have I met him?”

“Yep.”

“Who is it?”

“You’ll know,” he said with another cheeky grin before darting out the door.

Natasha wasn’t going to waste her time chasing him. She wasn’t desperate. At least not that desperate.

………

Her next class went by in a haze of familiar faces and prewritten directions, and soon her feet walked on autopilot to the gymnasium, stopping by the staff room to change into gymnastics clothes before stepping onto the floor to stretch and watch the club teams finish their practices.

She was relieving her calves of tension against the wall when her first students started arriving. Her eyes flicked to the door every time there was movement, and she berated herself when that flash of disappointment stuck when it wasn’t him.

But when it was, her breath was stolen from her. Her mind was definitely not playing him up. He looked just as he had in all her fantasies, and thinking back to her conversation with Darcy, her descriptions just didn’t do him justice. Especially when his eyes met hers and he gave a dimpled smile before leading the twins over to the rest of the group.

She stopped to greet most of the parents so as not to look suspicious when she approached him.

“Hey there, Mr. Mom. It came to my attention the other day that I never got your name.”

He looked surprised, before that look morphed into a slightly horrified flush. “I am so sorry, Miss. How rude of me. My Ma woulda smacked me straight upside the head. I’m Steve, Steve Rogers.”

“Steve,” she said, trying his name out in her mouth, rolling over the letters as if they were chocolate. “It’s nice to see you again Steve.”

His smile was bright. “Same to you, Miss.”

“You don’t have to call me Miss, you aren’t my student,” she laughed before her mind flashed to her conversation with Darcy, “I mean, I don’t call you ‘Daddy’, so you don’t have to call me Miss.”

“Well Natasha it is,” he spluttered, voice a little high and ears reddening.

“Daddy why are you so red?”

Pietro’s small voice cut through their little moment like a paring knife.

“Maybe he’s hot,” Wanda answered her brother, both of them looking at their dad floundering for words.

“I’m not-I’m not red,” he said, playfully ruffling their hair. Wanda looked between Steve and Natasha, eyebrows furrowed, and Natasha gave the little girl a sort of playful suspicious look. Sometimes she felt as if Wanda could see right through people. She was so insightful it was unnerving, especially for someone who wasn’t even in the first grade yet.

Wanda let go of Steve’s hand to stand by her brother and whisper in his ear.

“What are you guys discussing so secretively about down there?” Steve asked, watching the exchange with an arched eyebrow.

Pietro looked up at him, eyes shining with an innocence the little boy hadn’t had since he was born into the world.

“Nothing, Daddy. Can I go bounce on the trampoline?”

“Because that wasn’t suspicious. And no, you can’t. Miss Tasha has to start her lesson soon, then maybe you can.”

“Lesson, right. I should start that. We’ll talk later, yeah?”

“Sure,” Steve said, shooting her another smile.

She shot a grin back before calling all the kids out to the floor to stretch.

Steve got settled with Wanda on the side, watching the circle so intently he didn’t notice the furtive glances some of the other moms were casting his way.

But Natasha did, and she couldn’t blame them, because she had been doing the same thing. And yeah, it felt like an electric shock when she caught him looking back, but it felt like she was being engulfed in flames when she looked over and he was tickling Wanda or giving Pietro a thumbs up, which made the little boy smile so wide Natasha thought his lips would stretch right of his face.

So that’s how it went through the next hour, and even the hour after that, since it was the same thing, but a different room.

It was only afterward when she called the class and headed back towards her towel and water that she saw Sam at the doorway, grinning like the Cheshire cat and waggling his eyebrows again, looking in between her and Steve, who was unaware of his presence until the kids shouted his name and tackled him.

“Daddy, can we play with Sam today? Please? You promised we could last time!”

 Steve looked at Sam before glancing towards Natasha, obviously not wanting to cause her trouble.

Natasha, who had been watching the exchange from her spot a few feet away, mouthed to Steve that there wasn’t another class in the room for another half hour. He shot her a thumbs up and turned to Sam.

“I got nothing better to do since my next session isn’t until six. Unless you have something better to do, in which case I do have something better to do,” Sam said quickly, trying not to get the kids’ hopes up if Steve said no.

He considered it for a moment before shrugging.

“All that’s on our agenda tonight is dinner and bath time. Fifteen minutes won’t hurt.”

The twins let out a squeal before dragging Sam to the center of the room to play three-person freeze tag.

Natasha drew in a breath. Darcy was right, she didn’t want this to be her ‘what if’. She’d just start up a friendly conversation with him. Baby steps.

Steve smiled, considering joining them until he caught sight of Natasha in his peripheral, moving towards him.

She sat beside him, watching the threesome run around room, tagging each other and crawling through the other’s legs to ‘unfreeze’ them.

“They’re such sweethearts, both of them. I wonder, do they get that from their mom or their dad?”

The question was well stated, Natasha thought, playful enough to be an icebreaker but still serious enough to be an actual imploration about their family.

Steve let out a soft laugh.

“I don’t know, really. I was a difficult child growing up, and anyone who met my wife would never describe her as a sweetheart. Too soft, she’d probably say.”

“Difficult? Now how is that?”

“I don’t like bullies, and believe it or not, I wasn’t always this big. I came home with my nice clothes blood-stained more than a few times. I don’t know what Peggy saw in me.”

Another mention of his wife. Was this telling her she was coming on too strong? Natasha took a breath. New tactic, ok. She could do this.

“So, stationed in Sokovia, huh? What branch is she in?”

Her voice had become soft and knowing. So she’d caught the little detail the other day.

“Yeah, she, uh, she was in the army. She was helping out with the riots at the time, met a lot of good people,” Steve said, sadness tinging his voice.

Natasha’s expression tightened before she turned to him.

“Was?”

It took Steve a second to respond. “Yeah. Spy infiltrated a mission she was assigned to, ended with gunfire and she-she didn’t make it out.” Steve felt the hot tug at the back of his eyes and cleared his throat, trying to offset the sinking feeling in his gut.  

Natasha didn’t say anything for a minute.    

“It takes a lot of bravery to marry someone in the military. I’m really sorry for your loss, I know how difficult it is to readjust after something like that.”

“Well, it was three years ago, so…”

“It doesn’t matter how long ago it happened, Steve, I mean, it still happened.”

He didn’t say anything to that, and the conversation seemingly ended abruptly.

After a few minutes, Natasha spoke up.

“Sorry if I crossed a line, there. I didn’t mean to bring up anything.”

“It’s fine. You didn’t know any better. I mean, not all conversations go the way we expect them to.”

“That’s an understatement,” Nat breathed out, chuckling.

“So how’d you come upon teaching here?” Steve’s change of subject surprised Natasha a bit.

“Hmm? Oh, I grew up taking lessons here, and got a small part-time job as a teen that led into a full-time job. Along with teaching my classes, I’m a co-manager of the place. It was nice, since I didn’t have to go to college for it and I was already here. Got me jumpstarted on my adult life.”

Steve laughed. “Adult life, huh? So how long have you been here?”

“If that’s a roundabout way of asking how old I am, then I’m 28. Well, I’ll be 28 in about a week. If not, sorry for that overshare of information, but I’ve been here now for about 13 years. Started when I was 15, still here now.” She looked over to Steve, noticing the smirk he had on his face.

“You caught me on the age thing. You’re a smart cookie, that’s for sure.”

“Maybe you’re just about subtle as a gun.”

“Touché, Romanov.”

They continued exchanging quips until the next instructor glided in, smiling at Natasha.

Sam noticed too, and started wrapping up the game as Steve and Natasha gathered their stuff.

The conversation had been so easy after the awkward start, and Natasha felt more attracted to the man than ever. So much for the self-preservation she had planned on.

But the point wasn’t completely moot, because unbeknownst to her, Steve’s stomach was fluttering with the butterflies he hadn’t felt since Peggy, and as much as it scared him, he was also drawn to it, leading him to their next awkward, sans sad, exchange.

“So, Natasha,” he started, getting the woman’s attention, “er, I was wondering, I mean, if there isn’t someone-which I’m not insinuating at all-well, I was wondering, if maybe you’d want to, if maybe you’d-“

He stumbling was cut off.

“As cute as it is to see you all flustered like this, how’s about I give you my number and you text me goodnight tonight and we’ll go from there?”

The question hung in the air, and Natasha was worried she had said the wrong thing, when in reality, Steve was trying to calm himself enough to answer without a tremor in his voice.

“I-yeah, yeah that sounds like a good idea.”

Steve held out his phone to her, and she took a few moments to punch her name and number in.

By the time she held it back to him, Sam and the kids had finally made their way over to the two, all of them out of breath and giggling.

Sam let the two kids down before straightening and looking at the two of them with a smug grin.

“Don’t look at me like that, Wilson,” Natasha said, the playful warning slipping out before she grabbed her stuff off the bench. “I’ve got to get going, I’ll see you boys around.”

She winked in Steve’s direction before heading out, leaving Steve to turn to Sam.

“What did you do?”

Sam put his hands up in surrender, “I put in a good word for ‘a friend’, that’s all.”

Steve was about to say something snarky back before holding his tongue, opting instead after thinking for, “Thanks, man. I owe you one.”

“Yeah you do. I’ll catch you later. Treat her well, that one, Nat’s a special girl.”

Steve smiled. “I was planning on it. See you.”

He gathered up the kids’ stuff before taking them by the hands and leading them to the car, a silly smile stuck on his face.

……….

Natasha whipped out her phone as soon as she left the room, quickly finding Darcy’s number.

 _Have I got news for you_.


End file.
